PEC Sr. Principal, Kirk Marchand, P.E. will be making a presentation at the Façade Tectonics World Congress October 10-11, 2016 in Los Angeles. His discussion, Glazing Hazard Design: Collaborative Design for High Fidelity Façade Analysis will highlight the Window Hazard Analysis Module (WhAM) design tool. This adaptable and robust design tool, developed in conjunction with Enclos, utilizes a unique finite element analysis framework (LS-DYNA) and custom material models to evaluate non-rectangular, out-of-plane configurations for wind, blast, seismic and impact loads. Kirk hopes you can join him as he explore the possibilities this novel tool offers for designing facades against both natural and man-made hazards.

Key numerical formulations include a new Glass Failure Prediction Model (GFPM) based LS-DYNA UMAT with an elastic constitutive model with flaw-based probabilistic failure criterion, a new PVB interlayer LS-DYNA UMAT that includes a post-break, strain-based stiffness increase due to interaction between PVB and adhered glass shards and a new structural silicone LS-DYNA UMAT that includes a hyper-elastic constitutive model.

Shock tube tests have been conducted to for validation. Tests included a 4-lite storefront exposed to 5 levels of blast load. DIC (digital image correlation) was used for surface displacement measurement. Improved FEA model comparisons with tests showed excellent correlation of predicted and measured results.